State Pensions UK

State Pension Benefits
State Benefits are notoriously complex to work out yourself. Even the so called experts struggle with this. But you do need to know what you will get from the state at retirement, in order to work out how much supplemental income you will need to generate from either your personal pension, company pension or investment portfolio.

Get a State Pension Forecast

This will tell you what you are entitled to when you reach State Pension age. It will give you an estimate of your Basic State Pension and any additional State Pension; also called the State Second Pension and the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme (SERPS). Request it at www.thepensionservice.gov.uk or by post.

You will not automatically receive your State Pensions at State Pension age. The onus is on you to ensure you receive them. If the Department of Work and Pensions does not contact you and you are less than three months away from State Pension age, be pro-active and contact them yourself to request a claim form.

How to increase your State Pensionby deferring it
You can increase your State Pension income by deferring it. You have to be of State Pension age to do this (currently 60 for women, rising to 65 by 2020). The deal is a pretty good one if you can afford not to take your State Pension now. For each year you defer taking your pension, you will get about 10.4% extra income. So if your State Pension is £100 a week and you defer for a year, you can expect to get £110.40 a week when you do start taking it . If you are still working and do not need to start drawing your State Pension yet, then this can be a good option.

Disclaimer: All the information above is provided as a service for individuals and institutions. It should in no way be construed as a recommendation as an investment. Investment decisions should be based on the risk tolerance and planning horizon of the investor. Market participants must understand that past performance is also not a guarantee or predictor of future results.